Thursday, April 27, 2017

21st-Century $lavery

The millennial generation, the first to grow up with smartphones in their hands, is often stereotyped as lazy and entitled. But workplace experts say workaholics are common among 19-to-35-year-olds, perhaps more so than among older members of Generation X and baby boomers.

In one online study, more than 4 in 10 millennials consider themselves “work martyrs” — dedicated, indispensable, and racked with guilt if they take time off.

Proving that propaganda, inculcation, indoctrination, and dogma works!As for me, I took six months off this pos and did not feel one iota of guilt. And I'll be done here before 8 finished or not. Sorry, but my health is more important that whatever spew came out the Globe today or any other day. Then again, I'm not a millennial.Oh, btw kids, no one is indispensable. You may think you are, but your not. No one is.

So why are millennials bent on being workaholics? Even though the economy has improved markedly in recent years, young people in the workforce today have record levels of student loan debt. They are also less likely than previous generations to earn more than their parents, according to a Stanford University report. The percentage of children who are better off than their parents has dropped dramatically — 50 percent of those born in the 1980s have a higher standard of living than their parents, compared with 90 percent of those born in the 1940s.Looks to me like the "markedly improved economy" has only been for a very small sector at the top if these numbers -- and others like them -- are accurate. Don't let me distract your nose from the grindstone though, kiddo. Back to work (if you are lucky enough to have a job)!

The way millennials were raised may play into their always-on mindset, too, said Bob Kelleher, a Boston-based employee engagement consultant and author. Many of them were highly scheduled, he said, going to soccer camps, enrolling in SAT prep courses, and competing on the debate team in order to get into a good college.

And some have delayed several of the responsibilities of adulthood, he noted, living with their parents and putting off marriage and kids. That frees them up to work even more.

“This is a driven generation,” he said.

The concept of 24/7 work has become so prevalent that workplace analysts are starting to talk about “work-life blending” instead of “work-life balance.”I quit.

The ability to work anytime, anywhere, helps propel this blending of work and life, in part because answering a work text at a coffee shop doesn’t feel as much like work as sitting in a cubicle. Indeed, nearly one in five people said they don’t consider after-hours texts from clients or customers to be work, according to Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc., a think tank set up by the Chelmsford human resources software provider.Yes, WORK is LIFE, wow!! I would have given it more thought but work is like a 24/7 operation now so.... sh**, what are you going to do when you are sleeping? No more sleep, 'eh? Maybe they have a drug for that?

“If a friend texted me at the gym I would answer their text. Answering a work e-mail is just a natural extension of that,” said Jessica Molson, a 24-year-old integration manager at Beacon Communities, the Boston real estate developer and property management firm. “I don’t think of it as working; it’s just communicating.”The war is over for the youth have been coopted and are controlled. No wonder they aren't out in the streets protesting the looting of their futures or following in the footsteps of their ancestors with war protests. Gotta go to the $hit job to pay off the debt interest on the loans (forget paying the principle anytime soon. Parents getting the basement set up for you as I type).

Molson finds herself answering e-mails and jumping on conference calls even when she’s on vacation, once distracting other participants with the sound of seagulls in the background while she was in Florida with her family. But going on a real vacation is a rarity for Molson, who tends to take long weekends because she’s afraid of missing something at work — and also because she loves what she does.I actually feel sorry for her, and the problem is loving your job is rare in AmeriKa -- unless you are one of the "regular" people, I gue$$.

Like many millennials, Molson came of age when the economy was reeling, and the uncertain job market had a profound effect on her.

“I’m very anxious to rack up as much experience as possible,” she said.

Millennials are also more likely to forfeit paid days off than older generations of workers, with a quarter of 18-to-25-year-olds reporting they weren’t using any of their paid vacation days this year, according to the personal finance website Bankrate.com. The rise of companies offering unlimited vacation time may contribute to that, workplace consultants say, noting that when there is no set bank of “use it or lose it” vacation time, people are less likely to take days off than they otherwise would be.I did 10 years on this blog with a handful of days off.

But not being able to truly get away from work can have serious downsides. Employees who don’t disconnect experience more stress and anxiety, which leads to reduced productivity and a higher rate of burnout, said Dan Schawbel, research director at Future Workplace, an executive development firm in New York.I'm too busy and behind to listen to this guy.

“If all you’re doing is trying to be the perfect employee, it’s actually not going to work out in your favor because it’s going to make you less happy,” said Schawbel, who describes working too much as “a weakness disguised as a strength.”It's hard to be happy with your nose buried between two cheeks.

Seeing co-workers hunched over their desks late at night can cause others to feel they should be doing the same and increase guilt, or resentment, among employees who strive to keep their work and home lives separate.Do you get a knot in your neck like me?As for other employees, I never gave a damn. You can't control other people and what they do, and I only cared about how I was being treated. When other employees complained to me about other employees, I saw it as a fracture in labor unity and why working people never get anywhere. I'm not saying lazy goldbrickers should excused, but why you sweating so the man can make a pile of money while increasing the pace?

It can also lead people working around the clock to hold it against their employer — “even if it’s your own fault,” Schawbel noted. Indeed, people who see being a “work martyr” as a good thing are more likely to be unhappy with their jobs, and less likely to receive bonuses, according to the Project: Time Off study.Oh, yeah, there is that dynamic, too. I always felt it was the employer's duty to notice if you were suffering. They never did. They just cared about their efficiency reports.

That can lead to retention problems, particularly among millennials, who aren’t afraid to quit. Two out of three young workers expect to leave their current job by 2020, according to a recent study by Deloitte.Why you lazy.... !!

Still, workaholics aren’t necessarily unhappy — many are ambitious or simply enjoy their work....Do I look like I'm enjoying this?

"It is hard to have a southern overseer; it is worse to have a northern one; but worst of all [is] when you are the slave-driver of yourself."I'm sure some of you kids learned that in college.Any of you speak Japanese?
"Dentsu chief to resign over employee’s suicide stemming from overwork" by Jonathan Soble New York Times December 29, 2016

TOKYO — In the months before she jumped to her death from a company dormitory last Christmas, a young employee at a Japanese advertising agency told friends on Twitter of enduring harassment and grueling long hours on the job.

On Wednesday, the president and chief executive of Takahashi’s agency, Dentsu, one of the world’s largest advertising firms, said he would resign to take responsibility for her death, as well as the larger problem of dangerously long work hours at the agency that has been laid bare in its wake. Before her suicide, Takahashi was putting in more than 100 hours of overtime a month, according to an investigation by labor authorities, much of it unreported and unpaid.

Japan has struggled for decades to tame the issue of excessive working hours and its consequences, including karoshi, the Japanese word for death from overwork, which gained currency in the 1980s.

Takahashi’s 2015 death has led to a new bout of soul-searching. It has also damaged Dentsu’s reputation and brought scrutiny from labor authorities and prosecutors.

Working late has long been seen in Japan as a badge of corporate loyalty, repaid by employers in the form of ironclad job security. Both the security and the loyalty that many workers feel have eroded in recent years, as cultural norms have shifted and Japan’s economy has struggled. But the problem of health-threatening overwork has persisted....

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